After the Darkness: Guardian Angel
by Maya Aodhan
Summary: This is a small side-fic set in the After the Darkness headcanon 'verse. Jondum Bau and Kasumi Goto play their game of tag across a ruined galaxy. This was in no small way inspired by Geminidragon! Thankyou!


Bau slid down the wall, lowering his profile to peek out of cover. The horde of cannibals were gathered around two banshees and a brute. Sniffing the air, he wrinkled his nose at the pervasive stench of death that was everywhere on this planet. He touched his com and whispered.  
"Bau, in position."  
"Danix."  
"Scavin,"  
"Vess."  
Bau smiled faintly, "On my mark."  
"Hold position, Spectres."  
A new voice over the com. This one whispered and husky.  
"Who is this?" Bau heard Danix ask, "Bau?"  
"Hang on," Jondum activated his omnitool and scanned the frequencies, "Someone hacked our signal."  
"Very astute, Spectre," the unfamiliar voice was rich with amusement, "Just thought you would like to know that little band of Reapers out there - they are just a diversion. One street over is a horde of the nasty little critters. Your little band of Spectres starts firing, they will come over to join the party."  
Jondum was silent for a while, then gave the order:  
"Stand down, Spectres. We will move position and get a better view of the action."  
His comm tool clicked again, and he realised the user on the either end had isolated their channel.  
"If you move to the north from there, you will have a clear run through to the krogan lines. They are holding the bridges," the suggestion came through.  
"Thank you," Bau said, and paused, "Who is this?"  
"Your guardian angel, Spectre."

* * *

Jondum swiped a hand across his brow. He had linked with Kirrahe and his STG to blow a bridge. They had taken heavy fire and it was looking like they wouldn't reach their target.  
"Kirrahe, this way is blocked off. They have heavy weapons on the bridge and they are covering the straight line run to the pylons," he peeked out, and slammed back into cover as bolts peppered his position, "They have me pinned down. See if you can get around the other way. If I keep them distracted here, they might not notice your advance."  
He leaned out to fire, and bolts slammed into his tech armour. He grunted and went back into cover.  
"See you on the other side, Bau," he heard Kirrahe through the com, "Just hold that position. I will send reinforcements."  
"Keep your soldiers. Just blow that bridge."  
There was quiet on the com, "Alright, Bau. Just…be careful."  
Bau took a deep breath, flexed his hands and came out of cover again. He fired up onto the bridge, saw one of the marauders go down and got smashed backwards onto the rocks by heavy weapons fire. His shields went down and he flung himself away back into cover.  
A whisper sounded through his com, "Silly Spectre, throwing your life away for a stupid bridge," the voice was chiding, "I suppose I will just have to save your life again."  
He coughed, green blood aspirating on the back of his hand and slumped behind a boulder. He stared up at the bridge, and saw a reaper go flying off the side and hit the water. A grenade blew out the gun nest, even as a cannibal went flying.  
He levered himself up to a crouch, and spat blood into the sand. There was firing up above, but it was wildly random and after a while there was silence. He tapped his com.  
"Kirrahe?"  
"The guns stopped, Bau. We have a clear run. Get clear and we will blow the bridge."  
Jondum clutched his palm over the wounds on his chest and limped out of range. Several minutes later, the world turned white as the bridge exploded, isolating the Reaper forces in downtown London. He stood staring out at the debris, and it was with no small amount of relief when the voice came over his com.  
"Stay safe, Spectre," the voice whispered, "When all this is finished, we must catch up."  
"Who are you?" Bau insisted again, even has hands levered him onto a stretcher and to the evac point.  
"Your guardian angel."  
"Wait!" but the voice was gone.

* * *

It was the final push. This was it. The Catalyst. All or nothing. Jondum was part of Hammer with his squad. He watched shuttles go down around him, but they landed with barely a few hits. They got to cover and started firing. He could see Shepard and her crew off to the left, but they were soon separated. Reapers towered overhead, overshadowing the skyline. Their mission was to get to high ground and help clear a path for Shepard and her crew, stop the Reapers from reinforcing the key positions.  
"I hope you are with me, angel," Bau murmured softly, then aloud, keying his mic, "Alright. Let's get to high ground. Danix, Vess, take point, let's leapfrog through these buildings. They block our view through to the Reapers. "  
They were shadows moving through darkness, not revealing their presence. Death came with sharp knives and omniblades rather than bolts. They split into the two teams, and got to their target buildings. The smell of decay hung in the air, the people in these buildings had not fared well during this battle.  
And in position they had a perfect view of the street and through their scopes they could see the runs that the teams were making. All around him, Bau could hear his team constantly firing. Fire. Reload. Fire. Reload. There was hours of this. Their heavy weapons packs grew lighter, and twice they had to relocate as Reapers closed in and teams passed through.  
It was getting hot. The Reapers had realised something was wrong. That they were being distracted from a larger target. They began to land at the main push. Their weapons carved holes in buildings.  
"Alright, we have done what we can. Time to evac…" Jondum called into his com, "Get to the rendezvous…." His world went red. The floor under him collapsed and there was so much pain as he fell through ceiling after ceiling. He lay broken on the ground, his eyes bare slits. His consciousness was fading to grey around the edges.  
There was shouting through his com, lying on the floor beside him, knocked from his head, "Bau! Bau is down! First team is down! The Reaper hit their building! Bau is down!" his fingers twitched toward the piece, but he couldn't seem to make his arm move.  
The shouting went silent. Cut off in an instant and a serene voice whispered through, "I'm coming for you, Spectre. Hold on."  
His omnitool hummed into life without his touch and he peered at the light. He could hear Reaper forces outside, scrabbling chitinous feet upon rubble. He could hear weapon fire. And he lay back his head and closed his eyes. He had done his job. He had held the line, as Kirrahe was fond of repeating. No one would remember his name in this massive war, but he felt no shame. He slid toward darkness.

* * *

"Spectre," a gloved hand touched the bowed head of the fallen salarian. And Kasumi Goto flickered into existence as her suit deactivated. She touched some keys on her omnitool and scanned him, "Hmmm, you aren't in good shape are you?" Medigel flooded his system.  
Her fingertips touched his bloodied brow, "There. Let's get you out of here." She keyed her com.  
"Spectre Unit Two, I have Bau. He is at these co-ordinates. Stabilised, but Reaper forces incoming in less than five."  
"Copy that! Who is this?"  
"His guardian angel," Kasumi smiled, and activated her stealth system. She found a position to watch over him and see the approach of the survivors of his Spectre Unit. She saw his eyes flicker. He would be fine now. She slid out of the room, and out into the night. She was needed elsewhere before this was done.

* * *

Jondum opened his eyes. Everything hurt. A lot. But that was good. It meant he was alive. He twitched his fingers experimentally. Toes. He blinked, and turned his head. He could see the sky. It was clear. London was a ruin. But it was clear. There were no Reapers crawling like foul insects over the landscape and twisting the horizon. He tried to sit up and was prevented by a sharp pain in his chest.  
"You broke some ribs with that little stunt," the voice came from somewhere in the room. His eyes flicked around, and he frowned. Where?  
"And your leg. I'm surprised you didn't break your brain as well," the voice shifted from one corner to the next, his eyes followed, and he was sure he saw a faint shimmer. His eyes narrowed.  
"Show yourself!" he demanded, hands clenching the white sheets over him.  
There was a static sound as Kasumi deactivated her suit.  
"Miss Goto!" Bau moved to toss aside his sheets and seemed to realise he was buck ass naked. If a salarian could blush, he would, and he quickly covered himself again.  
Kasumi just folded her arms, and her lips curved in a smile, "You will have to wait for another time to capture me, Spectre."  
"I thought you were dead! I saw you!" he growled in protest, "Shepard …"  
"Yeah, she owed me a few," Kasumi shrugged and walked toward the bed with a sensual hip-swinging pace, "Glad to see your team got you out."  
"It was you, wasn't it?" Jondum leaned back as she paused and lowered herself to sit in the chair beside his bed; slinging long, lithe legs over the arm.  
"Me what?" an innocent smile.  
"You," Jondum insisted, his intelligent eyes watchful. Without eyes for him to watch, he found it hard to gauge her mood anything beyond playful. "Why were you following me around?"  
Kasumi rubbed her fingertips together thoughfully, then tapped the lower lip that was tattooed with that purple line. She prevaricated, "I protected a lot of people."  
"I was hunting you down, Miss Goto," Jondum growled fiercely, a lack of understanding on his face.  
Kasumi swung her legs down in a heart-stopping swirl of motion. She touched her wrists together and held them out to him. The enigmatic smile was still in place.  
"Go ahead. Take me in," her voice was a husky whisper.  
"Get out," Jondum snarled, "Get out and stay gone. If I come across you again, I won't let you ago."  
She dropped her hands to her sides. She touched a button on her belt, and she shimmered out of existence. Her voice was still that sensual whisper as she seemed to depart.  
"One day you will figure it out, salarian,"  
Jondum waited, then raised a hand to his brow and rubbed. Hard. He hadn't even said thank you.


End file.
